Your Selfies, DP and Taco Picts Can Hurt You
by William Jackson, My Quest To Teach @wmjackson

The more I speak at conferences, churches and with
youth groups the more I see that information needs
to be shared with parents and their children.
Too many parents are clueless that their children are
involved in Sexting, Cyberbullying, and even digital
Pimping. Yes I said digital Pimping. The use of Social
Media to post personal pictures, tantalizing videos,
stimulating sexual photos and senseless party picts
may be fun and exciting, but they can hurt a teen and
young adults e-reputation, e-personality and potentially
their credit score.

You can forget being involved in politics, ministry and in
some cases community service. If you “equipment” is posted
for everyone to see that is almost and death sentence for
community dreams. Employers, educational institutions
and even the military have the capability to check Social
Media platforms to look for and find potentially harmful
information that can stop college entrance, put a stop on
receiving scholarships and internships, even prevent starting
a promising career in a dream job making millions.

Parents should learn the terminology their children are
using online to stop potential problems before they happen,
giving their children a Smartphone is not very bright without
talking about expectations for behaviors and actions.
It is almost like giving the keys of their car to a unlicensed
driver with no experience and no insurance. The Internet
contains the worst and the best of human information,
but youth, teens and young adults will ultimately be attracted
to the parts that are unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

The lure of excitement is more powerful than common sense.
Sexting is a dangerous activity that children are participating in,
they lack the maturity to understand that as a boy sending a
(DP) “dick pic” or a girl sending a (Taco) or vagina pict has
consequences that may involve law enforcement and being
accused in child porn.

Their reputations can be destroyed and that DP or Taco will
never go away because information is backed up, archived and
stored on servers someplace. Traditional laws did not have to
address the Sexting and child porn of the last 10 to 15 years,
because of the Internet Congress has passed legislation
to cover these issues and jails contain men and women
caught in child porn and prostitution rings.
Parents need to understand they have a moral and ethical
responsibility to talk to their children to set expectations, to
reinforce values and morals about their conduct and actions
online. The online world has dangers and tragedies seen when
kids are kidnapped, sexually assaulted or sold as sex slaves
when enticed to meet strangers away from home.

Sexting; is the sending and receiving of sexually explicit
photos and/or text using cell phones with digital cameras.
USA Today has reported in past issues that the percentage
of men admitted to sending a DP is increasing: those surveyed
because they were asked for one, others they wanted to turn
the other person on. Other reasons flirting and to get the other
person to send one back. Teen girls have reported it is important
to “checking out the junk” to see how real it is because the
imagination can be deceptive and wrong and all boys lie
about the size they have. “It is the imagination part of sexting
that mainly attracts women to it,” USA Today 2012 and the
thrill for guys.

Studies conducted by the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University,
published in the journal Sexual Health reported No Privacy exists
in cyberspace and that those that Sext have no idea who is looking
at them in the world and have their personal information.
During my presentations over the years with community groups,
youth, teens and young adult groups and even at the international
Preventing Crime In The Black Community I speak realistically to
youth, teens, and young adults about the potential dangers and
future effects of Sexting. It is not romantic, it is not sexy, it is
not what they think when the image is spread to a whole school
or the football team, or basketball team or even in their church.

Too many young people still are under the idea that their pictures
will be deleted when they break up with that boy or girl they are
dating, but the hospitals and even cemeteries show that is not
the case when youth, teens and young adults try to or successfully
commit suicide because their sexting pictures or video are
spread to others and they are harassed and embarrassed at
school, in church and in their communities.

Parents need to have these conversations and Google their
children to see what is out there in photos, videos and sharing
sites, be friends with them online and if necessary contact your
cell phone provider and see who they are texting and sending
and receiving photos and videos with. Be proactive not reactive…..

It is important to be proactive before an incident happens and
law enforcement comes knocking on your door and takes
everyone’s devices for an investigation that will be embarrassing
for you at work, in church and in your community. Youth, teens
and young adults convicted of child porn must register as a
sex offender and this will destroy their freedoms social and
professional. Changes that will affect the whole family for
years to come.

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The Morgan Report
Education, Technology
and Social MediaClick Here
Interview on The Morgan Report
----------------Life Full Circle
Hosted by Miguel Lloyd
with Guest William Jackson